tablets of human hearts

Day 70

Sabbath. The day of rest. And we definitely need it. I had planned on an afternoon nap, but we ended up doing a little shopping. Now I’m relaxing by surfing the internet and typing my weekly email.

Yesterday I managed to schedule an appointment at Lowe’s for countertops on November 12^th. They are so understaffed and overwhelmed with customers that the cabinet/countertop department will not even talk to you without an appointment. From what I understand, our countertops cannot be ordered until the cabinets have been measured (and the cabinets won’t be installed until the week of the 21^st) and then it will take 3-4 weeks before for the order to come in. It will be interesting trying to cook in the house without a countertop or kitchen sink. I’m hoping we at least have the sheetrock dust cleaned up by then.

Jon will be making an unplanned trip to Texas next weekend. Scout is not behaving himself at Bubba’s farm and must come home. Jon and Daniel will drive to San Antonio on Saturday and return on Sunday. They will also pick up the big screen TV that dad dropped off and picked up at a repair shop. I guess it’s just as well, since we will be unable to visit over Thanksgiving. We are very disappointed, as we were looking forward to a chance to escape, visit with family and possibly do some Christmas shopping. I do hope that the walls in our house are textured by this next weekend, so that Jonny and I can spend Saturday priming and painting. Heather will not be able to come home for the weekend (she did make it home this weekend) since they have a game on Saturday.

God continues to bless and to teach.

Saturday, after a particularly stressful and explosive incident, I found myself crying out to God in frustration. (Isn’t it amazing that as the stress piles up, it is usually a small and stupid incidents that set us off) He graciously led me to a verse in the Psalms (which are a great read for those who are struggling).

Psalm 29 “¹⁰ The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever. ¹¹ The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.”

I am reminded that the Lord was in charge before the storm flood waters, during the storm flood waters and is still in charge after the storm flood waters. He will provide the strength that we need and He will bless us with peace. Not the peace that the world gives, but the peace that only He can give;

John 14 “²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

The world, with its hurricanes, wars, earthquakes, and tornadoes, does not provide any peace.

He gives a peace that doesn’t make sense in the midst of the circumstances.

Philippians 4 “⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The real key to experiencing His peace is found in the previous verse, however.

Philippians 4 “⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

If we are anxious and worrying, we won’t experience God’s peace.

If we don’t pray, pouring out our requests to Him, we won’t experience God’s peace.

If we don’t give thanks to Him, we won’t experience God’s peace.

Jon pointed out that the following verses are also key to His peace.

Philippians 4 “⁸Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think of such things.”

If we are dwelling on negative, critical, ugly, depressing and meaningless things, than we will not experience God’s peace. If we keep our minds on what He tells us to think about, then His peace will be richer, fuller, and deeper in our lives.

2 Corinthians “³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

Truly we are learning the comfort that comes from God.

I think that the one thing that makes our struggles both easier and harder is the fact that so many are also struggling. The need is seen when we drive down the streets past still damaged homes, when we see the weary faces of people and when we stand in the long lines and know that services are still limited everywhere. It is hard to feel sorry for ourselves when we know so many are going through what we are going through, and so many are struggling more than we are struggling. It is also hard to ask for help when we know so many are going through what we are going through, and so many are struggling more than we are struggling.

The Lord is enthroned as King forever.

May you experience the peace that passes understanding.

Grace & Peace

Day 68

Jon and I took yesterday and today off from work so we could work on the house. I spent the morning gathering additional countertop cost estimates and purchasing paint. I have the paint for our bedroom and bathroom, Jonny’s bedroom, closets and the downstairs bathroom. Paint adds up rather quickly and I still have to get paint for the dining, kitchen/laundry, family room and study. Not to mention paint for the trim, doors and floor boards.

Jon and Rocky spent the day mudding and sanding.   They played with the texturizing hopper and we found the setting the matches our wall.  They textured the closest. Today and tomorrow we’ll continue to sand and mud, mud and sand, until the walls are ready to texturize. Jon and I may make a run to some stores to see if we can purchase the remainder of the doors, schedule an appointment to order our countertops and order our floors. Today we’ll take the floor samples over to the house to see if we like them. We’ve also decided against high end countertops and will get the laminate. Since we don’t think this is the house we’ll be in for the rest of our lives and think we’ll probably sell in the next 4 years, we’ll install something decent, but less expensive.

Cold season is definitely here. Lots of people missing work because of sick kids. Daniel stayed home yesterday with a fever and bad cold. Jonny tried to come down with it, but he hasn’t yet. He and Jon are also having a time with allergies.

There have been fires burning all over the coast, as debris is disposed. I’ve also seen truck after truck towing cars that were obviously underwater in New Orleans. Apparently the government is leasing some land to temporarily store them; unfortunately it is in a large field just around the corner and down the road from our pastor’s home. I’m going to try and get some pictures. It is an incredible sight: a huge field filled with nothing but vehicles that were damaged beyond repair by Katrina.

Time to get back to work.

BlessingsGrace & Peace

Day 65

Sometimes it’s hard to even concentrate. And it’s definitely harder to even plan. I made a list of things that will have to be done in the recovery/restoration of our home. The list spans three pages so far. Each task is not a simple task. Each task requires some sort of measuring and calculating or a trip to the home improvement store or an installation process. Jon just looked at my list, shook his head and called me nuts. For me, the list provides some sort of sense of control in an otherwise out of control world.

I attempted to do some shopping on Saturday, since it’s hard to shop during the week; working until four, the boys to pick up, meals to make, and oh by the way, the majority of the businesses close early because they no longer have the employees to remain open to the pre-Katrina regular hours. The shopping trip was a major frustration.

We stopped at Party City first, since Jonny wanted a costume for Halloween. I think everyone else on the coast was there. Well, everyone except the individuals who were also at Walmart and Home Depot. I wanted to stop at Home Depot next, to purchase our first round of paint. Jon called me on the cell phone and told me not to bother, it was packed and lines were ridiculously long. So I skipped Home Depot and tried Walmart in Gulfport.

After circling the large parking lot with dozens of other cars and finding not one single parking spot, I decided to drive to D’Iberville and try the Walmart there. At least I was able to find a parking spot. By the time I finished at Walmart, it was time to head home. Jon and I had to get ready to go to the Navy Ball. The Navy Ball was held in Louisiana, about an hour from Diamondhead. Attending the Ball pretty much took away time in the afternoon and evening that we could have spent working on the house. We went because it was, after all, the Navy Ball.

We found out yesterday that the house we’re staying at has a lease that has been arranged for next month. So we have to be moved out by December 1^st. I am quite overwhelmed by the thought since our house is absolutely empty. No furniture, no countertops, no cabinets. Everything we were able to save is spread out between the upstairs bedrooms (stacked up all over the rooms), the garage and the house where we are currently staying. I really couldn’t tell you where anything is at, and in some cases, if we still have a particular thing. I don’t function well in disorganization and chaos.

On the upside, Jon works better with a deadline. So, maybe this will be a blessing in disguise and we’ll have to press forward to be ready to move. I think it covers about a quarter of my three-page list. We did find out today that our cabinets are scheduled to be delivered on November 21^st.

We will not be able to visit family for Thanksgiving due to our moving deadline, but we will be able to hopefully use the time to install the cabinets. I am in the process of getting cost estimates for countertops. I didn’t realize the countertops could cost half as much as the cabinets.   We are looking at concrete, solid surface and laminates. We also have to make a decision on the flooring, if we want all carpet again, or wood laminate floors.

So many decisions, it can be quite overwhelming.

Hanging in there

Grace & Peace

Day 62

Two months. And clean up continues. If you would like to see some more pictures of the coast, visit http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/KatrinaPhotosMain.htm. The link on the page takes you to more photos that really capture what it looks like down here. (I checked the link before posting for the 10 year anniversary and it includes pictures from several years after, as well as a link to additional photos.)

We’re trying to get over the sheetrock hump. It is all hung and floated; we just need to finish sanding and texturing. With work and activities, we haven’t had a chance to work on the house all week. Today, Jon and Rocky will hopefully get to the texturing. I am going to Home Depot to try to start buying paint. We’ve ordered our kitchen cabinets.   Since the color of our cabinets we had was discontinued two years ago, we had to replace all the cabinets. They should be delivered sometime around Thanksgiving. Jon will be installing them himself. Tuesday, Jon and I will take the van to have the window fixed and visit the flooring company to order flooring and carpet. We were hoping to be in our home by Thanksgiving, but now I’m hoping we’ll be in by Christmas. We haven’t even had an opportunity to start furniture shopping to replace all the furniture we lost.

Well, I need to get moving if I want to get anything accomplished today.

Will try to write some more later. A friend reminded me that I am overdue on an email with the rest of Beth Moore’s study.

God is good.

Grace & Peace

Day 54

We’ve been hard at work on our house. Sometimes it seems as if we’re making progress. Sometimes it seems as if the daunting task will never end.

Jon called from Home Depot. It was the second time he called while out on an errand – he and his dad were on a door finding mission. For some reason, I thought “Oh no! They’ve had an accident.” Close. When I answered the phone, Jon said that an eighteen-wheeler blew a tire right next to them on the interstate. When it did, a piece hit the side van window, shattering it. As Jon described to me what happened, two thoughts came to mind simultaneously. First, I thought “O Lord, just what we don’t need. Why did you allow this to happen? It’s not like we don’t have enough difficulties.” The second thought was “Thank you Lord that you protected them. It could have been so much worse.”

I took a break from sanding dry wall after I hung up the phone. I went to outside, got the mail and sat down in the sunshine to think about the situation. As I thought about the broken window, it occurred to me that it is only a broken window. I opened the mail and read a short letter from Lauren Libby, Vice President of Navigator Ministries. He writes, “The secret to obtaining freedom is learning to think like Jesus – to see the suffering, challenges and conflicts as God’s way of weaning us into the freedom of pursuing His plan for our lives.”

I thought, “Now how in the world can all these difficulties we’re experiencing be to our benefit? What can I possibly get out of it all?”

That’s when I thought about my two reactions to the broken window. One represents our worldly selfish reactions. The other represents a grateful heart focused on God and his purpose for us. I am thankful because Wednesday I was praying for a new attitude (mine had become quite sullen and self pitying). Just the fact that I had a thankful thought at the moment of bad news means that the Lord is working on my attitude.

Hey, I have to lay claim to the small victories when I can. Sometimes, during times like these, they are too far apart.

May the Lord continue His good work in you.

Grace & Peace